About Jane Montgomery Griffiths
CAREER EXPERIENCE
Jane Montgomery Griffiths has combined a successful career as an actor, playwright and director with academic research and university teaching. As an actor, she has worked with Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, Bell Shakespeare Company, MTC/Neon and in the UK, companies including the RSC, Salisbury and Derby Playhouses, Chichester Festival Theatre and Compass Theatre Company.
As a director, she has produced work ranging from the classics and modern repertoire through to devised projects and new writing. She has been Artistic Director of the Cambridge Greek Play, directing acclaimed productions of Trojan Women and Electra, has run workshops for the RSC, and has been Associate Director at Harrogate Theatre, and has directed at Red Stitch Actors’ Ensemble.
Her writing credits include the successful one-woman Sappho…in nine fragments for Malthouse Theatre (which was nominated for the NSW and Victorian Premiers’ Literary Awards, and has since been broadcast on ABC Radio National, and toured internationally); Wild Surmise (Malthouse Theatre; ABC Radio National; nominated for best new play Greenroom Award); Sectioned (ABC Radio National Airplay); Antigone (Malthouse Theatre; Currency Press); An Ox Stand on My Tongue (RE Ross Award; PWA development award) and the libretto Razing Hypatia with score by composer Kevin March, was one of the winners of Chamber Made’s recent NOVA competition.
Jane is also a frequent media commentator and reviewer, and has had regular radio slots discussing theatre and the Classics on ABC774 3Triple R.
ACTING CAREER
Graduating from Cambridge University, where she was in Footlights, the Marlowe Society and was President of the University Amateur Dramatic Club, Jane took up a year’s contract with the Cambridge Theatre Company, and then worked in theatres across the UK, as well as in television and film. For eighteen months she was based at Harrogate Theatre, where she developed a long and fruitful collaboration with director Andrew Manley, and combined roles as Associate Director and Resident Company Member.
She later returned to the well-known UK touring company, Compass Theatre Company, to play the title role in their acclaimed production of Sophocles' Electra, for which she won the prestigious Best Actress Award in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards.
After moving to Australia, Jane took a career break from professional theatre, but since returning to acting, has performed with Bell Shakespeare Company, Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir Theatre, Red Stitch, Fraught Outfit and The Rabble. She was most recently in The Artisan Collective’s highly acclaimed production of Wit at 45Downstairs.
Showreel
WIT Trailer
WIT Trailer
Showreel: Jane Montgomery Griffiths
Acting
| YEAR | PRODUCTION | DIRECTOR / COMPANY |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Titus Andronicus | Bell Shakespeare dir. Adena Jacobs |
| 2017 | MACBETH | Simon Phillips MTC |
| 2016 | Wit (Vivian) | Ben Pfeiffer Artisan Collective/45Downstairs |
| 2015 | Antigone (Creon) | Adena Jacobs Malthouse |
| 2015 | Wizard of Oz (Tin Man) | Adena Jacobs Belvoir |
| 2014 | Frankenstein (The Creature) | Emma Valente Malthouse/The Rabble |
| 2013 | Story of O (Sir Stephen) | Emma Valente MTCNeon/The Rabble |
| 2012 | Wild Surmise (Alex) | Marion Potts Malthouse |
| 2011 | Good People (Jean) | Kaarin Fairfax Red Stitch |
| 2010 | Elektra (Clytemnestra) | Adena Jacobs Fraught Outfit |
| 2010 | Sappho…in 9 fragments | Marion Potts Malthouse Theatre |
| 2010 | King Lear | Marion Potts Bell Shakespeare |
| 1999 | Electra (Electra) | Neil Sissons Compass Theatre Co |
| (Manchester Evening News Best Actress Award) | ||
| 1997 | Romeo and Juliet (The Nurse) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1997 | Pygmalion (Mrs Higgins) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1996 | Three Sisters (Masha) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1996 | Gasping (Kirsten) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1996 | Talking Talking Heads (Peggy Schofield) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1996 | Anne Frank (Mrs Van Damme) | Marcus Goodwin Harrogate Theatre |
| 1995 | Sleeping Beauty (Wicked Fairy) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1995 | Marisol (June) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1995 | Othello (Emilia) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1995 | School for Scandal (Sneerwell) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1994 | Woyzeck (Ringmaster) | Neil Sissons Compass Theatre Co. |
| 1994 | Midsummer...Dream (Titania) | Neil Sissons Compass Theatre Co. |
| 1993 | Abigail’s Party (Beverly) | Caroline Eves Theatr Clywd |
| 1993 | A Doll’s House (Mrs Linde) | Helena Kaut-Howson Theatr Clywd |
| 1992 | Sick (Girl x 3) | Sarah Kane/ Royal Court@New End |
| 1992 | The Country Wife (Lady Fidget) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1992 | Turn of the Screw (Governess) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1992 | A Doll’s House (Mrs Linde) | David Massarella Salisbury Playhouse |
| 1991 | Midsummer...Dream (Helena) | Deborah Paige Salisbury Playhouse |
| 1991 | The Innocents (The Governess) | Robin Midgely Derby Playhouse |
| 1991 | Electra (Chorus) | Deborah Warner RSC/Thelma Holt |
| 1991 | Point Valaine (Hilda) | Tim Luscombe Chichester Festival |
| 1991 | Hedda Gabler (Mrs Elvsted) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| (White Rose Best Supporting Actress Award) | ||
| 1990 | Gaslight (Mrs Manningham) | Ivor Benjamin Harrogate Theatre |
| (White Rose Best Actress Award) | ||
| 1990 | School for Wives (Georgette) | Andrew Manley Harrogate Theatre |
| 1990 | Prin (Melanie) | Anthony Tuckey Wolsey Theatre |
| 1990 | Barefoot in the Park (Corrie) | Gerry Tebbut Wolsey Theatre |
| 1990 | Il Stupro (woman) | Robin Midgely Cambridge Theatre Co. |
| 1990 | Mrs Warren’s Profession (Vivie) | Robin Midgely Cambridge Theatre Co. |
| 1989 | Dear Charles | Val May Yvonne Arnaud |
| 1989 | How the Other Half Loves (Terry) | Robin Midgely Cambridge Theatre Co. |
Television & Film
| YEAR | PRODUCTION | DIRECTOR / COMPANY |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Sian, Five Bedrooms | Network 10 |
| 1992 | BBC Director training | Polly Teale/Les Blair BBC TV |
| 1992 | Red Dwarf | Juliet May Noel Gay TV |
| 1991 | Casualty | Bill Pryde BBC TV |
| 1991 | The Bill | Chris Lovett Thames TV |
| 1990 | A Murder of Quality | Gavin Millar Thames TV |
| 1990 | One Against the Wind | Larry Elgin DeLuxe Productions |
Writing
| YEAR | PRODUCTION | DIRECTOR / COMPANY |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Antigone | 90min Malthouse Theatre; Currency Press |
| 2013 | An Ox Stand on my Tongue | 120mins Winner of RE Ross award and PWA development |
| 2013 | Sectioned | 60 mins ABC Radio National Airplay |
| 2013 | Wild Surmise | 90 mins Malthouse Theatre; ABC RN Poetica |
| 2010 | Sappho…in 9 fragments | 90 mins Malthouse Theatre; Currency Press; ABC RN Airplay |
DIRECTING
Artistic Director of the Cambridge Greek Play 1996- 2002
The Cambridge Greek Play has a 120 year old history of staging productions of ancient Greek drama in its original language, and has a reputation as the most prestigious institution of its kind.
Productions:
- 2001 Electra
- 1998 Trojan Women
- 1998 Complex Electras – a devised piece, working together with English National Opera director Julia Hollander to develop a cross-media reinterpretation of Greek myth.
Artist in Residence, La Trobe University, Melbourne 2000
A sixth month residency created by the Department of Theatre and Drama to enable work on devised and new writing projects.
Associate Director, Harrogate Theatre 1995-1996
Harrogate Theatre Company - acknowledged as 'Britain's most innovative repertory
company' (The Guardian) - was one of the few remaining regional theatres to produce exclusively in-house productions in its 8-9 play repertory season.
Productions:
- 1996 Teechers
- 1996 Educating Rita (co-director)
- 1996 Press Cuttings
- 1996 Talking to the Fridge (new writing)
- 1996 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (assist.)
- 1996 The Case of the Crushed Petunias
- 1996 Fears and Miseries of the 3rd Reich
Roles and Responsibilities:
- To assist artistic director with casting, directing, programming and administration.
- To direct main-stage and complementary studio productions and readings.
- To create new initiatives to develop audiences and theatre’s profile (i.e. the
- creation of the popular “Saturday Special” series of ‘free theatre’ programme.)
- To initiate youth and adult workshops.
- To direct and recruit youth theatre for main-stage productions.
- To liaise with acting company.
- To foster links between theatre and community.
Freelance Productions as Director
Wittenberg – Red Stitch 2012
Yerma – UpFront Theatre Company 1997
Too Modest Proposals- Dublin Swift Festival 1994